Agriculture Economics at XXXX University is my first choice for graduate school because of the great strength of your program, especially in the area of crop science. It would be a special honor for me to have the opportunity to prove myself as a very hard worker and a highly capable student in your program, so that I might be accepted to study directly for the PHD Degree. I particularly admire the work of Dr. XXXX, studying supply and the interaction between systems of production on the one hand, and the environment and natural resources on the other. I admire K-State’s broad-based curriculum and your creative leadership in the area of agribusiness.

A young Indian man with six years of experience in the area of food processing, I am very dedicated to the study and production of food with special attention to the cost of production as well as the level and quality of nutrition that is provided by the product in question. I am especially interested in grains, which I see as the principal hope for progress in the future, particularly with respect to our fight against hunger in the developing world. I seek to continue to advance in my academic specialization in this area for the balance of my professional life, engaging in research concerning the economic aspects of agriculture production, especially as it relates to climate change and limited available natural resources.

I look forward to a lifetime of analysis of the economic issues related to agriculture and the environment, conducting surveys and collecting data, advising businesses, governments, and individuals on science based economic policy as it relates to agriculture. Dedicated to lifelong learning and still only 28 years old, I hope to spend another 70 years or so learning about agricultural production, land use, water, and environmental economics on a global scale. I particularly look forward to a full participation in the ongoing improvement of material technologies, helping to apply science, in a ‘systems’ mode, helping to improve planning and decision making by farmers, exploring the link between food supply and environmental degradation in a never ending search for sustainable farming methods and strategies.

I have lost a lot of sleep doing non-required reading on climate change and global harvest, because of the critical implications for food security, especially in the long term, water scarcity, livelihood, adaptation and economic policy, etc. In fact, I have now spent several years reading as much as possible about agricultural production, land and water policy, environmental economics and international development, hunger and poverty. This is the center of my world. Thus, I am most keen to immerse myself in research on the relations between poverty, agriculture production, and environmental degradation with special attention always paid to the question of how to steward our natural resources in sustainable ways.

Our land mass—especially the percentage under cultivation--is shrinking at the same time that our global population is growing rapidly, raising alarm bells for our future and heightening the urgency of advancement in the area of agricultural production. We face numerous global challenges in the future, especially diminished availability of water for agriculture as a result of climate change. The grim realities of climate change suggest a pending ecological imbalance that is most likely to result in chronic and widespread food shortages. Of course, there is no simple solution for these multi-faced problems and thus I look forward to being part of well-coordinated efforts from individuals and governments around the world to address these concerns proactively.

My father is a farmer and I spent my childhood on a farm. So, I have been involved for my entire life with the issues that concern me most. Because I am myself from a rural background, in India, I am in a position to excel at data collection as a result of my facility with communication—in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengala and English, the 4 most common languages of the region.

The agricultural sector represents 35% of India’s GNP thus playing an especially crucial role in the country’s development. Furthermore, India is one of the countries that is expected to suffer the most from the results of climate change in the future and, with its enormous and rapidly growing population, is especially vulnerable to widespread and devastating food shortages.

Thankfully, India is home to an extraordinary variety of climatic regions, ranging from tropical in the south to temperate and alpine in the Himalayan north, where elevated regions receive sustained winter snowfalls providing us with sources of hope in addition to reasons for concern.

I completed my BS in Engineering Degree in Food Processing and Technology in 2009 and have been working full time in the food processing industry since that time, employed by several different multinational interests and I have gotten especially good at data collection and analysis. I was among the top 5% of students in my undergraduate program at the University of Rajasthan, India. The curriculum included all the basic courses such as Cereal Chemistry, Cereal Processing and Preservation, Chemical Engineering, Thermodynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Food Microbiology, Food Bio-chemistry and Nutrition, Food Packing etc. I acquired all of the most important skills for testing and experiments related to the curriculum in our University lab. To further strengthen my skills, I underwent a paid training program at the Center for Analysis Research and Training Laboratory, New Delhi (Certified by NABL-National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories), which helped me to further refine my testing and analytical skills.

I also completed various industrial training programs such as with Mount Shivalik Industries and Temptation Foods Ltd., during my semester breaks. I worked in these industries to learn processes like Beer Fermentation, Blanching and Individual Quick Freezing (IQF). I also worked with Perfetti Van Melle India Pvt. Ltd., Agro Tech Foods Ltd., and JMD Oils Pvt. Ltd., which are among the most professional large scale manufacturing organizations in India’s food industry. This provided me with hands-on experience in quality analysis and assurance as well as the operation and design of machines and equipment.

I look forward to several years of learning and sharing with my colleagues at XXXX, lengthy discussions about food security and climate change, learning from my peers from all over the world about challenges and opportunities in their countries of origin. The impact of climate change on agriculture will undoubtedly result in food security issues, at least in many parts of the world. We will meet this challenge as best we can through exhaustive studies of what types of crops can be grown in certain areas, issues of access to water for irrigation, amounts of solar radiation that affect plant growth, prevalence of pests, etc. I intend to collaborate extensively with if not work for the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) examining the vulnerability of agricultural production—by region and by crop—in the face of climate change, developing strategies to avert starvation in the future. I thank you for consideration of my application.